Chico

Chico

Exhibition Text

Melting meteorites

The most forceful collisions in the early solar system contained enough energy to melt portions of the planetesimals. The meteorite Chico shows evidence of melting on the lighter-colored half. The meandering boundary of this region indicates that the material was once partially liquid. During melting, the metal in the matrix began to separate from the rocky minerals. The darker portion did not melt and the rock and metal are still completely mixed.

A collision also caused melting in Rose City. Here, metal separated from rock throughout the meteorite.